A Queens-based group devoted to the Falun Gong movement—which has been labeled as a cult by the Chinese government—should be defined as a religious institution for the purposes of a lawsuit against a self-styled anti-cult group that it said has allegedly assaulted its members, a federal judge found.

U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein of the Eastern District of New York found that a statute that outlaws blocking access to houses of worship—as well as abortion clinics—should be broadly interpreted to include the Falun Gong, which has a temple in Flushing, Queens, and proselytizes from a table set up on the pedestrian-heavy Main Street.